This is a discussion on First Post and a battery question within the General Maintenance, Troubleshooting & Accidents. forums, part of the Tech & Modifying & General Repairs category; Nice to be on board. Four weeks into my new Red Mica WRX and loving it. I know this question ...

First Post and a battery question

Nice to be on board. Four weeks into my new Red Mica WRX and loving it. I know this question is probably in the wrong place however please forgive...... My wife and I both work weekends and sometimes wont get the machine out of the shed for a week or two. At any time longer than one week between drives the battery is flat. Is this because of all the security gear being on, or is the battery generally too small, or have I got a bad battery and should go back to my dealer.

I'd guess that there is something wrong with the battery, or possibly something is draining the electricity slowly. I don't think the security system will drain it that much. I'd take it to the dealer if it is convienient.

Kinda funny with mine - I travel a lot for business and often leave my WRX at the airport for two weeks at a time. (Don't worry, close in covered parking, security cameras, cops searching every car in, cameras recording every license plate, etc. etc. Costs my company $15 a day!) When my car was new, I'd have a low battery when I got back. Strong enough to start it, but not by much. Now that it's over a year old, and has a big freakin' stereo installed, it's nice and strong when I get back. Weird.

Could be you have a little short somewhere too.

Chris

"Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me." -Jesus

I've noticed that the headlights will kill the battery a little faster than I anticipated. An hour of four PIAA bulbs and it won't kick in the starter. During the winter, I notice slow cranking sometimes as well. We need to find out the specs on our stock battery, maybe it's time to get a DieHard.

Not a big surprise with the cold "problems" you mention, Pt. Cold kills batteries, plain and simple. As far as the other, I would check the cold cranking amps of the battery (what it's capable of) and the required cold cranking amps of the car and see if perhaps the battery is just barely strong enough to do it. It's possible Subaru put in the least powerful battery they could get away with in order to save some money. You never know...

All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand. - Steven Wright

My battery seems to be up to the task. I put my stereo with three (small) amps in my CRX and my DieHard died hard! Those amps just sucked the life out of it. I put an Optima in and that solved my problem. I was expecting the same in my Rex, especially since I added a fourth amp when I moved it over, but no, the stocker is working fine for me. (Believe it or not, I mainly listen to Jazz and the Blues on that thing, It just sounds so clean and crisp with all that reserve power. I do carry an Ice-T CD around just in case though!)

I highly recommend Optima. They're a bit expensive, but crank hard and have a 2 hour reserve capacity - I could leave my lights on for two hours plus and the thing still started strong. Now the time I left my 100w KCs on was a different story......

There's no question they put in a relatively cheap batter stock though - why wouldn't they? Nobody buys a car according to what type of battery it comes with.

C

"Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me." -Jesus

I'm planning on getting an Optima Red Top before winter, I have had one on my Wrangler for 5 years now. I have PIAA fog/driving combos for the front, PIAA driving lights as backup lights (they really back off the bumper riding a$$holes too) and a Warn XD9000i winch. I have had no problems running the either the lights or the winch off of a single batter and the stock alternator. I get a little battery drain but I have never killed it....Optimas are goooood.

boxman

The meek shall inherit the earth, then we'll take it away from them....

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